Fifty-six years ago, a young man with extraordinary charisma and a genuine love for people became the youngest car dealer in the country at just 25 years old. Today, as my father retires from Tuttle-Click Automotive after building an empire of 16 dealerships across Arizona and California with his partner Ambassador Robert Tuttle, I find myself reflecting on the man behind it all.
My dad’s journey began in Beverly Hills, working for his uncle, Holmes Tuttle. His natural gift for connecting with people quickly set him apart, and when the opportunity came to open his first dealership in Tucson, Arizona, he and my mother took a leap of faith. My mom, Vicki Click, still remembers stepping off that plane, pregnant with my brother, into heat so intense she was certain it would bring on early labor. But they were building something together, and Tucson became home. My parents worked as a true partnership — my mom designing the dealerships and helping to train the employees while my dad sold cars and brought encouragement and leadership. His success was built on her behind-the-scenes contributions, sacrifices, and unwavering support every step of the way.
There’s a story from those Beverly Hills days that captures everything about who my father is. A man walked into the dealership in tattered jeans and a worn shirt, carrying a shoebox. Although others dismissed him as homeless and looked the other way, my dad walked right over. He spent hours with that man, treating him with the same respect he’d give anyone. At the end, the customer opened his shoebox and bought a car with cash.
My dad told me that story to teach me something he lived every single day: never judge a book by its cover. Everyone deserves the same respect — from the janitor at the dealership to the CEO. In life, everybody is equal. There’s not one person more important than the next.
That philosophy didn’t just shape his business — it defined how he treated his employees. He loved them like family. When someone got sick and ended up in the hospital, he’d visit them and sit for hours, sometimes through the night. He also hired employees with disabilities to wash cars at his dealerships, creating opportunities where others saw limitations and treating them with the same dignity and respect he showed everyone. His people weren’t just workers; they were part of something bigger, something built on genuine care…